Wow, so someone would sign an NDA for the purpose of having a free consult and nothing further? How is this some sort of bold statement that is making it to the front page of hacker news? "I won't incur risk for nothing in return". So brave.
Many relationships start with potential clients shopping around. They get a free consult. If that's not what this guy is referring to, then my mistake. I wouldn't sign the NDA either, but I could just as easily named this article "I won't stab myself in the eye".
I think your interpretation of "sign a document so I can sue you later" is pretty inaccurate. Someone is disclosing an idea and wants to protect themselves in case you decide their idea is worth implementing. I don't think it's an unrealistic request. Furthermore, most NDAs I've seen don't really protect much of anything.
The downside of saying 'no' is that you will never (or rarely) have them as a potential client. Maybe you have clients throwing themselves at you, but in my neck of the woods, clients aren't exactly a dime a dozen. I'm not going to sign anything that I feel would put me or my business at unreasonable risk, but no NDA I've ever signed has been worded that unrealistically.
To make a blanket statement that I'll never sign your NDA and NDAs are a dumb waste of time sounds like a difficult person to deal with right off the bat.
I was taught the alligator/crocodile thing like many others, but it never really stuck. For some reason (later in life), someone said "left hand, less than" as they held up their left hand to form a less than sign. That image sticks in my head a lot better.
Another thing that was particularly hard to get naturally was the ternary operator. It didn't sink in easily until Jon Skeet said pretend the ? is indeed a question. If the answer is 'yes', this will happen.
I don't get the title at all. It seems like a very concerted effort using a bit of trial and error, changing things, seeing what works, what doesn't and having success. Or did I miss the joke?
Many relationships start with potential clients shopping around. They get a free consult. If that's not what this guy is referring to, then my mistake. I wouldn't sign the NDA either, but I could just as easily named this article "I won't stab myself in the eye".